Car-door.



J. WARNOGK & G. G. LEWIS.

OAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE-20, 190B.

Patented J an. 4, 1910.

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J. WARNOGK & G. G. LEWIS.

' OAR DOOR. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 20, 1908.

Patented Jan.4, 1910.

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"1mm. u 01mm! 00.. rnmo-mmmuwins Wumuawn a c UNITED STATEFATENT OFFICE.

JAMES WARNOCK, 0F WALPOLE, AND GEORGE C. LEWIS, OF KISSINA, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA.

CAR-DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 4, 1910.

Application filed June 20, 1908. Serial No. 439,642.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, JAMES l/VARNOOK, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, residing at Walpole, in the Province of Saskatchewan, Dominion of Canada, and GEORGE C. Lnwrs, a citizen of the Dominion of Canada, residing at Kissina, in the Province of Saskatchewan, Dominion of Canada, have 111- vented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Doors,"of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

Our invention relates to improvements in doors forgrain ears, coal cars, and the like.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and practical grain door whlch may be readily raised or opened when the car is loaded with grain, coal or the like.

Another object of our invention is to provide an improved anti-friction guide for a slidin door of this character.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved pawl and ratchet lever operating device for actuating the winding shaft of the door operating means.

With the above and other objects in View, the invention consists of the novel features of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through a portion of a grain car looking toward our improved door; Fig. 2- is a vertical section taken on the plane indicated by the line 2-2 in Fig. 1 and showing our improved door in its closed position in full lines and in its open or elevated position in dotted lines; Fig. 3 is a detail horizontal section taken on the plane indicatedby the line 3-3 in Fig. 2; Fig. 4: is a detail perspective of a portion of one of the door jambs showin our improved anti-friction guide for the door; Fig. 5 is a detail vertical section taken on the plane indicated by the line 5--5 in Fi 1; and Fig. 6 is a detail perspective View of the operating lever.

In the drawings 1 denotes a portion of a freight or grain car having at its door opening upright ambs 2 on which are arranged anti-friction guide devices for the door, which latter, While it may be of any suitable form and construction, is here shown as consisting of a main or lower section 3 and a free upper section 4. The door jambs or posts 2 have their inner corners formed with grooves 5 which provide vertical guides for the edges of the door. The latter is retained in said guide grooves 5 by metal guide plates or strips 6 secured by screws or other fastenings 7 upon the inner faces of the jambs 2 and having their ed es projecting flush with the opposing side aces of the jambs. In these opposing side faces of the jambs are formed circular recesses or sockets 8 portions of which intersect the grooves 5 so as to permit the peripheries of anti friction rollers 9 journaled in said recesses to project into said grooves and engage the outer face of the door adjacent its ends.

The anti-friction rollers 9 are journaled upon screws 10 which are screwed into the jambs 2 and have their headed outer ends arranged in bearing openings in vertical bearing plates or strips 11. secured by screws or similar fastenings 12 upon the opposing inner faces of the door jambs. The guide and retaining strips 6 and the anti-friction rollers 9 are preferably arranged only upon the lower portion of the door jambs so that the lower section 3 of the door may be raised with as little friction as possible when the car is filled with grain, coal or other material and the latter is pressing against the inner face of the door. The main door section 3 is preferably composed of a series of boards arranged with their edges in contact and united by vertically disposed metal straps or cleats 13 which are preferably secured by rivets l4. and have their lower ends set in notches in the bottom of the door and bent around the latter, as shown at 15. The upper ends of the straps 13 are shaped and bent to provide inwardly and downwardly projecting hooks 16 adapted to receive substantially triangular loops 17 upon the lower ends of two suspending cables or chains 18. The upper ends of the latter are secured close to the ends of a transverse winding shaft 19 journaled in bearings 20 upon the inner portion of the frame of the car, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. To permit the door to slide freely in its anti-friction guiding devices, the opposite faces of its ends are preferably beveled to taper said ends, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The upper removable door section 4 is similar in construction to the section 3, being composed of boards united by metal straps 21 to the ends of which latter are pivoted rings 22 which may be engaged with hooks upon one of the walls of the car to suspend said door section in an out-of-the-way position when not needed. If desired, the upper section 4: may be hinged to the lower section so as to fold over upon the same when the section 3 is swung up to its elevated position and secured, as indicated in dotted lines in said Fig. 2. The other door section 3 when raised vertically out of its guide devices by means of the chains or cables, may be swung upwardly to a substantially horizontal position beneath the roof of the car and secured in such position by the engagement of a pivoted hook 23 upon the top of the car with an eye 24; upon the inner face of the door section 3 adjacent to its bottom, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

In order to operate the winding shaft 19, we provide an improved pawl and ratchet lever device which comprises a hand lever consisting of a body portion or handle 25 having two projecting plates 26 riveted or otherwise secured upon its opposite sides at one end and formed at their outer extremities with apertures to receive the shaft 19 so that said lever is loosely mounted thereon for swinging movement. Fixed to the shaft between said plates 26 is a ratchet wheel 27 adapted to be engaged by a pawl 28 which is pivoted at 29 between the inner portions of the plates 26 and is held normally in engagement with the ratchet by a leaf spring 20, which latter is pivoted at 31 upon the handle portion 25 of the lever. By pivoting said spring in this manner, it will be seen that its free end may be swung to one side and out of engagement with the pawl so that the latter may drop away from the ratchet. Pivoted at 32 upon the frame of the car above the ratchet is a locking pawl 33 adapted to drop by gravity into engagement with said ratchet and having adjacent to its free end a projecting arm 34: apertured to receive an operating cord 35. It will be seen that when said cord is drawn upon the locking pawl or dog 33 will be lifted out of engagement with the ratchet to unlock the shaft.

In operation, assuming the door to be in its closed position, when itis desired to open the same the upper sect-ion & is removed and the lever 25 is then oscillated to cause its pawl 28 to actuate the ratchet wheel and hence the shaft in a direction to wind the cables thereon and thereby raise the lower door section 3. Since the latter is mounted in the anti-friction guide devices it may be readily raised notwithstanding the pressure of the grain or coal or other material against its inner face. As the shaft is rotated to raise the door section 3 the pawl 33' prevents retrograde movement of said shaft and, consequently, locks the door in its elevated position. When the bottom of the door section 3 is free of the guides it may be swung upwardly to a horizontal position and suspended by the hook 23 and eye 24, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. Then it is desired to lower the door the spring 31 is swung out of engagement-with the pawl 28 to allow the latter to drop away from the ratchet and the cord 35 is then drawn upon to disengage the locking pawl 33 from said ratchet, whereupon, the door will descend by gravity, the chains or cables being caused to unwind from the shaft by the weight of the door.

From the foregoing it will be seen that our invention provides an exceedingly simple, strong, durable and comparatively inexpensive grain door which may be quickly and easily opened notwithstanding the pressure of the contents of the ear against it.

Having thus described our invention what we claim is:

The combination of a car or the like having a door opening, the jambs 2 at opposite sides of the door provided upon their inner corners with the guide grooves 5 and upon their opposing faces with the recesses 8 in communication with the grooves 5, the guide strips 6 secured to the inner faces of the jambs and overlapping the grooves 5, the bearing strips 11 secured to the opposing faces of the jambs and closing the ends of the recesses 8, journal pins 10 passing through the bearing strips 11 and into the jambs, anti-friction rollers arranged upon said pins and in the recesses so as to project into the guide grooves 5, a door having its ends arranged in the guide grooves 5 and slidably engaged with the rollers and said strips (3 and means for raising and lowering the door.

In testimony whereof we hereunto our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES IVARNOCK.

GEORGE C. LEWIS.

IVitnesses GEo. F. SALMON, A. S. CLARK. 

